


Not broken just bent

by fauchevalent



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Criminal Minds, Daredevil (TV), Elementary (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Leverage, Lie to Me (TV), Person of Interest (TV), Warehouse 13
Genre: Crossover, Multi, not everything all @ once, what a mess! not tagging individual characters or relationships bc it's a massive mess!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 02:50:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5768506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fauchevalent/pseuds/fauchevalent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A smile plays at Faith lips at she spots the bar on the corner, perfectly placed for her to pop in and out for a quick drink. McRory's, reads the green awning in swirling black font, brewery and pub, which to be honest, Faith thinks are kind of the same thing, but she's not the one running the joint, so she forgives the redundancy. She doesn't find the place too full as she shoulders the door open, which is a relief, just a redhead behind the bar and a guy leaning over on his elbows to talk to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let's go back to childhood

**Author's Note:**

> I own none of these fandoms! Also, not a songfic, I just like that title. And I think I got Faith's parent's names from a fanfic once? But I can't recall! It's just planted in my head.

A smile plays at Faith lips at she spots the bar on the corner, perfectly placed for her to pop in and out for a quick drink.  _McRory's,_ reads the green awning in swirling black font,  _brewery and pub_ , which  _to be honest_ , Faith thinks are kind of the same thing, but she's not the one running the joint, so she forgives the redundancy. She doesn't find the place too full as she shoulders the door open, which is a relief, just a redhead behind the bar and a guy leaning over on his elbows to talk to her.  
"It looks like you've got yourself all figured out, Cor'," the guy says, grinning at the redhead, and the redhead shrugs, wiping a towel across the empty countertop. "I mean, I'm not sure I have, but I'm doing my best. I - I wanted to thank you, again. All of you -"  
Faith tilts her head from her place at the farthest bar stool, closest to the door.  _All of you_? Looks like there's only one of him. But redhead is pushing on, despite the guy's shaking head and sighs. "Really, Nate! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, and I'm not forgetting it."  
The guy -  _Nate, Faith's mind inserts_ \- chuckles softly and reaches for the redhead's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Faith feels like she's intruding on a family moment.  
"Cora, you're family - your dad was a good man, alright? There's nothin' I wouldn't do for you and your family. You need anything -" Nate looks seriously at the redhead -  _Cora, she fills in again_ \- " _Anything_ , you call, right?"   
Cora chuckles and squeezes his hand, giving him a fond smile. "Of course." She's starting to turn around to clean something else when she throws a, "You too!" over her shoulder, and promptly notices Faith.   
"Uh, hi. Sorry - I hope I didn't keep you long." She tells Faith, and Faith forces a smile. "No, no trouble." She says easily, and then, "A whiskey. Straight."  
"Coming right up." Cora nods, turning to Nate over her shoulder and calling, "You want a refill, Nate?"  
"Sophie would say you're a bad influence, Cor'."  
Cora simply grins. "Tell her it's my pleasure," she replies with a wink, and Faith shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Part of her wants to take down all the names they mention -  _Nate, Cora, Sophie_ \- for a later date. For intel. The rest of her is saying that's intrusive, Faith, you're at a fucking bar, calm down. She listens to that part and shifts again, trying to forget the names and what she's picked up on.  
Unfortunately for her, Nate gives her a smile and directs his next sentence at her rather than Cora. "I've never seen you around," he says, almost casually, but there's an undertone of protectiveness - for...  _Cora_? Faith doesn't know. She returns the smile and shrugs. "I'm back in the city. You keep tabs on everyone in Boston?" Her question is supposed to be a throwaway, something to lighten the mood as Cora slides them both a glass of whiskey, but she sees Nate's eyes cloud and her attention peaks.  
"Something like that." He murmurs, and Faith chuckles.   
"Nate, right?" He nods, and Faith maneuvers over a few stools closer to him. He seems interesting, and she wants some bar chat. "Faith." Something like understanding quirks his brow and he smiles, the smile reaching his eyes like the one he gave Cora. "I knew a Faith, once." He tells her, conversationally, and she raises her glass to her lips. "Oh yeah? I knew a Nate once. I don't think you're the same guy, though."  
Nate takes a swig of his whiskey and turns to face her, tilting his head. "How come?"  
"Eh, there's just no way. Yanno? He and I were," she pauses, considers her words. How do you describe the relationship of the priest at a juvenile facility to one of the patients? "Friends," she decides, and Nate nods. "Huh." He says, and the sound of heavy footfalls break up their little chat. "Nate -" a raspy, deep voice calls, stepping beside him at the bar. It sounds familiar, down to the stomps, but there's no fucking way... Faith lets out a quiet groan as her suspicions are confirmed. "Faith?" Eliot Spencer asks, surprise lacing his voice, and she smirks. "You sound surprised. Did you think I'd given up on dear ol' Beantown?"  
Eliot chuckles and leans on the bar beside Nate, looking right at Faith as he taps his ear. Nate gets up with a grunt, which is... weird. The only reason Eliot would be giving cues to Nate is if they were  _working_ together, but - Nate is... not a criminal. Or, at least, Faith doesn't think so. There's something thoughtful and warm in his gaze, and he does kind of remind her of her Nate. She doesn't think Father Nate could go do heists, or whatever it is Eliot does now. Come to think of it, she hasn't heard anything about Eliot recently, not for a while ( except  _stay away from him, he can't be trusted_ , but that's standard ), so as they stare each other down, Faith tilts her head. "So what've you been up to?"  
"Oh, you know. Still kickin'." Eliot replies, but it's distant and he's not giving her any real answer, so she closes the gap of seats she'd left between her and Nate, putting her and Eliot face to face. "Haven't heard anything about you in a while." Faith cuts right to the point, and Eliot shrugs.  
"Been busy."  
"With what? You still doing hinky things in Pakistan?"   
Eliot's face tightens almost imperceptibly. "No." He says sharply, and Faith tilts her head. "Then what're you up to? C'mon, for an old friend?"   
"Lehane, if you haven't heard, you ain't gotta know." He tells her, and Nate's head peeks back around the corner. "Lehane." Nate repeats, and he stands there, against the corner of the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "Faith Lehane, huh? Back in Boston."   
Faith gives him a weird look, and Nate shakes with a quiet laugh. "Never thought I'd see you outta that place, Faith." He says, and the quiet sincerity with which the words are spoken confuses Faith for a minute before she narrows her eyes. "No way. Uh uh. Nate  _Ford_?"  
Eliot looks like he might just combust if someone doesn't tell him what's going on, but Faith's okay with that, honestly. "How're you doing," Nate asks, a smile crossing his face, " _honestly_." Faith tries not to look like she's been caught in a lie as she says, "Good, I'm doing alright for myself. I got a steady job, and... uh, somebody visited my mom's gravesite while I was gone. So at least she wasn't lonely." She says quietly, shoving her hands in her pockets.   
" _God_ , I feel like I'm at confessional again."  
"You're not telling me any sins, Faith." Nate says, and there's that look again, the one that made her tell him everything so many years ago.   
"Wait," Eliot says, finally speaking up, "you were actually a preacher, Nate?"   
Faith grins from ear to ear. "Father Nate, of the Boston Juvenile Detention and Rehab center  _never told any stories about that_? I'm shocked. I always thought you'd be telling your kids stories about me, Nate." Faith plays hurt, and Nate chuckles. "I can't believe you're still the same Faith." He says, sadness crossing his face as he adds, "Uh... Sam. He didn't make it." And then, he tries not to look embarrassed as he says, "I've been visiting all my family's gravesites a lot, recently."   
Eliot looks like this might be the most information he's ever gotten about Nate.  
"You've been visiting more'n Sam? Who else is there?" He asks, and Nate looks away, "My mom. My grandparents. Ellie - I, uh. Didn't want to leave her alone." He says softly, and Faith thinks she's heard him wrong. "Ellie?" She clarifies. "Ellie... not like, my  _mom_ , Ellie, right?"   
Nate doesn't meet her eyes.  
"Nate. Why have you been visiting my mom's grave?" Faith asks, and she feels like a little girl again, asking Father Nate why things happened the way they did.   
"Eliot," Nate says quietly, "why don't you go start everything, I'll catch up later. Parker can run it." There's worry on Eliot's face -  _Eliot Spencer, worry, who'd've thought_ \- but he brushes it off as Nate shoots him a stern glance. "Eliot. It's alright." He says, and Eliot makes his way up the stairs he must've come down to greet both of them. 

"Nate."  
Nate looks a bit like he might throw up, and he crosses back to the bar, sliding onto the stool with a grunt and finishing his whiskey with one, long swig.  
"Ellie -  _your mother_." He corrects, quickly, discomfort fresh and raw on his face, "She... she and I. Well. When I was very young, Faith, I was a kid on the Boston streets. Jimmy Ford's kid. Do you remember what I used to tell you about that?" He's talking to her like they're there again, and Faith doesn't know how to feel about it. Part of her is angry - she escaped that part of her life years ago, she isn't some kid anymore, but part of her feels for Nate, trying to get through to her without her lashing out, reverting back to their comforting ways.  
Because it sort of works.  
She nods, anyway, and looks carefully at his eyes as he continues, just like she used to.  
"Yeah." He says quietly, like he doesn't know how to continue, and, swirling his empty glass, Nate gathers up the courage to say, "I knew your mother."  
Faith doesn't react.  
"That's. Not the whole of it, actually. I knew your mother, yeah, but I didn't just know her because we lived around the same neighborhood. We did, but... Your mother was my first crush." Even now, his cheeks redden as he retells it. "Yeah, and, uh - she was my first girlfriend too."  
He looks like he's going to continue, but Faith lifts her chin and challenges, "Why'd you end it?"  
"I didn't." Faith raises an eyebrow, and Nate pushes on. "No, yeah - you see... My dad, he didn't like J - your mother's father - eh, your grandfather, I guess. He hung around with Jimmy Lehane. Which I guess was the dividing line of our neighborhood, which, uh, which Jimmy you aligned with, yanno? But, I liked your mother. A lot. She was my first, a lot of things." He drops his glass. "A lot of things which are not things I will tell you about your mother. But, she was a good woman. She, uh, she got pushed around by George, a lot. When we were kids. So one day, they were, they were threatening her, and I didn't let them. So we..."  
Faith fills in the gaps. "You fucked."  
"Listen, Faith - I know that's not comfortable for you, probably, to consider, me and your mother, but..." Nate's voice softens. "I loved her. I did. But my father, he got word to her father that we were dating, and we both got...  _punished_. And then my dad, he, uh, he... he cut off communications. Threatened her. Told her I didn't love her, that I was ridding my hands of her, and told me if I got close to her again, she'd be gone. Your mother thought he was telling the truth, that I didn't... Anyway," his voice is breaking, and Faith resists the urge to look away from his eyes, to disconnect, "Anyway, your mother fell in with George. Lehane. And his crew... And, there was nothing I could do about it. But, about eight months after we broke it off, she had you, and George paraded around me like a peacock - told me he'd managed a baby out of it, and all I could get was a screw, and I wanted to do something..."  
"But you couldn't." Faith interjects, "My Dad was always an asshole." She grunts, finishing off her own whiskey. "So you visit mom's grave because she was your first?"  
"No. Uh, the thing is, Faith, when you were born, Ellie and I'd only been separated for eight months. Not long enough for her to have had you with George. So I thought maybe..." Nate doesn't finish his sentence, just drops his head into his hands.   
"But you never told me." Faith accuses. "You met me, we became friends, and you never told me."  
"Faith, George's name is on the birth certificate, your mother would never admit it if I was, and I had no proof. So what, I was just supposed to - to come to you with my sob story and hope you agreed with me?" He slams the glass down on the table, his voice having gotten louder and louder as he progressed, and Faith hums quietly. "Well." She says, "I do, alright? Eight months after you two stop bumpin' nuts, she pops out a baby, and somehow, that becomes someone else's? No."  
"Even _if_.  _If_ this is true, if I am your..." She notices he can't even say dad, or father, or any variant thereof. "Alright, even  _if_ , there's no way to prove it."  
"You never heard of a goddamn paternity test?" Faith challenges, and Nate shifts in his seat. "Well. Fa -"

"Don't you dare try to convince me that I don't want you as a father, alright? Don't fucking do it. I had you in my life for ten years as 'Father Nate,' ironic as that seems now, and it was terrible when I left, alright! I didn't have a goddamn clue what I was doing, and the center couldn't connect me with you -"  
"Yeah, when I moved to IYS, Paul thought it was bad if you could get to me, since I hadn't told you... all this." Nate murmurs, and Faith shakes her head and pushes on.  
"Look. Nate. All I've ever had in my life for parents was my mom until - " she almost says _until I became a slayer_ , but catches herself and thinks better of it. "Until I... started my career." Nate raises an eyebrow, and she shrugs it off. "Look, and then, my dad was shit and he left. All I've ever had were people who left, okay? If there's someone who's gonna stay... I'd be okay if it was you." She finishes gently, spinning her glass and watching the table through it.  
"Okay." Nate says quietly. "I didn't - you know, uh, want to force you into it, but if it's what you want."  
"It is." Faith says quickly, and they're silent for a while.   
"Nate, where the hell are ya?" Asks a voice gruffly and muffled, and Faith lifts her head to look for Eliot, but he's nowhere to be found. "Did you hear something?" Nate asks warily, and Faith, just as cautiously - okay, slayer hearing, maybe not the best right now - replies, "Well, I thought I did."  
"You still with Faith down there?" Eliot's voice asks again, and Faith immediately looks for the source again. Nate's eyebrow quirks up. "Faith. Did you just hear something again?" His voice is different, and she doesn't like it. She can't read the tone, but Eliot replies ( muffled and huffy again ) "She's usin' those damn ears of hers, ain't she?" And Faith's lips quirk into a smile as Nate's eyebrow shoots up. "Fuckin' _enhanced senses_ are a piece of work to deal with." She hears from Eliot, and she stifles a chuckle. Seemingly satisfied, Nate stands and shoves his hand in his pocket, straightening up and calling out, "Eliot, she's coming up." He immediately sounds like a boss, like a dad, a little bit - which is kind of freaky considering he's probably Faith's dad - and Faith tilts her head at the sudden change. "Aw, man!" Another voice rings out, muffled again, but louder than Eliot's, easier to pick up on. "She got freaky stuff goin' on?"  
She hears Eliot laugh, and watches a smirk creep onto Nate's face. "Children." Nate tuts, and Faith chuckles. Man, she's really going to pinpoint the dad parts now, isn't she? Great.  
"You got the gist, I gather?" Nate extends a hand towards the stairs Eliot had climbed earlier, and Faith nods.  "Yeah. The gist."

They're unlocking an apartment door when Nate pauses and says, "They're... Kind of a handful. And though it seems like you and Eliot are...  _familiar_ with each other, shall we say, uh - the rest of them... us, they'll probably not really know how to handle you?" Faith nods and Nate pushes the door open, revealing a surprisingly normal apartment set-up ( save for the giant TV on one wall, the counter immediately across from it, and the clear erasable board pushed up against a bookshelf ). A brunette is descending the stairs, and she looks Faith up and down quickly before saying, "Nate, you don't normally have guests," in an unmistakably worried British accent. "Should we be worried?"  
"Yeah, is this one gonna kill us too?" The blonde on the couch calls, and Nate rolls his eyes.   
"Sorry to intrude on this delightful little banter, but, uh -  _kill you_? Nate." Her tone brokers no argument, and Nate looks rather embarrassed about the whole ordeal. "It wasn't really a killing," he argues, "since we're not  _dead_."   
"Yeah, but they didn't like us," Eliot calls from the kitchen, "and I've got a bullet in my stainless steel pan to prove it."  
Faith's confusion must show clearly on her face, because Nate shuffles around a bit before going, "It's, uh. A line of work."  
"Leverage Inc!" The blonde shouts, hanging upside down from a wire, and Faith raises an eyebrow at the antics, which alerts Nate to it. "Parker, please get down from the ceiling. We still haven't fixed the damage from our, uh... friends." He mutters, and Parker dismounts her wire gracefully, a loud and dramatic huff escaping her lips.   
"Alright, so you've got people trying to kill you, and you've got bullets, and you've got damaged ceiling, and you've got an  _Eliot_ , which, why?"  
"He's very good in the kitchen." The other man in the room, African-American and sprawled on the couch, calls with a lazy grin.  
" _Hardison_ ," Nate begins, but the brunette ( still on the stairs ) picks up. "Hardison, please don't pressure Eliot while he's in the kitchen." Hardison seems to fall back onto the couch with resignation, and Faith quirks an eyebrow. "Nice. Still doesn't explain what the hell is going on here."   
"We... work..." Nate is struggling, and not even the brunette on the stairs can help him out ( aside from a delicate hand on his shoulder ). "We're thieves!" Parker shouts from the couch, and Nate sighs, pushing some hair off his forehead. "Thanks, Parker." He says dryly, and the blonde shoots him a thumbs up over the cushions.  
Faith lets out a low whistle. "I don't believe it - Father Nate, a thief? Goodness me." She coughs out a laugh that's been stuck in her throat since they came upstairs and Nate pauses, his hand finding the brunette's. "Sophie," he says softly, and the brunette -  _Sophie_ \- nods and gives his hand a squeeze before heading to the couch with the others.  
"Always knew I'd follow in my dad's footsteps," he says, "Somehow, you know?"   
Faith nods, and Eliot emerges from a kitchen. "Besides, what's a slayer doing here?" Eliot asks, and Faith nearly jumps ten feet in the air. "What the  _fuck_ , Spencer?" She dares a quick glance at Nate, but he seems unfazed by this development. "I didn -"  
"You didn't tell me? That's alright, Faith," Nate interrupts, "We've, uh - had our share of supernatural cases. Eliot simply informed me of what I needed to know."  
"You knew I was a slayer when we were downstairs, and you didn't look at me funny. Why." Faith orders, forgetting Eliot is in the room, and Nate sucks in a breath. "Uh, you didn't look at me funny. When I started rambling about being, ah - your dad, and all." He says quietly, and the room is silent.   
It seems this is a new development for the rest of the group, as they all look at Nate, wide eyed. The tension is so thick, Faith thinks she could cut it with a knife, and no one speaks until Eliot takes Nate by the arm and says, "Nate... your kid? I mean, some crazy shit has happened, but..."   
"Sam is gone," Sophie says quietly, and Nate is red in the face - he looks like he might scream or cry or both, and Faith is wary, but instead, he just says, "I know, Sophie." Sternly, as sharply as he could, and quietly. "I know my son is dead. Would you like to remind me again?" His eyes are stony, trained on Sophie, and she stands up and crosses to him, laying a hand on his chest but careful not to stand between him and Faith. "Nate... I don't want you to be, you know... I'm worried about you, you know, we all are. And sometimes jobs with kids get to you, we... We thought you'd react. We didn't know how..."  
"You thought this was me reacting to the last job?" Nate asks, his voice a whisper - Faith doesn't know she'd be able to hear him without slayer senses. His voice is pained, soft, but not as sharp as before, as he says, "You thought I'd do that to someone - to myself - to Sam's memory?" The middle question has an evident answer as Sophie's fingers fiddle with Nate's collar and she averts her eyes.  _Yes_ , she clearly thought he would put himself through that pain. The other questions, she meets his eyes for. Faith shivers at the implication -  
Nate wouldn't hurt someone else like that, not his son's memory, not someone he knew, not even a stranger... but he'd hurt himself like that?  
Eliot meets her eyes, a knowing look in his, and she blinks owlishly at him. She keeps feeling like a little girl today, like the girl who didn't know what the adults were talking about but knew it was bad, the girl who trusted Father Nate without pause, the girl who didn't know how to handle emotions without overflowing.  
She likes to think she's grown out of it all. Maybe not the trust thing, in fact,  _clearly_ not the trust thing, but... most of it.  
Eliot pulls her aside, into the kitchen. Maybe he's part of the whole bringing her back to childhood thing.   
Give a girl a trusted confidante from her youth and tell her he's her father, and give a girl an old childhood friend and tell her she'll be seeing a lot more of him.   
More like give a girl a heart attack, Jesus.  
Eliot doesn't say anything, just looks at her for a while, and then smiles. "So," he says, "you got anything going on?"  
"No, not really. Just normal slayer stuff, I guess. And this."   
Eliot chuckles and gestures broadly. "And this."  
"How about you, Spencer? You got anything happening?" It's almost just like old times, comfortable conversation between the two of them while Eliot stirs something on a stovetop, except they're both older and have a few more scars.  
"Yeah," he says, not skirting around the topic. She needs abruptness, clarity, and he knows it. Something to bring her back to the present. "I got a... I dunno what we are, really. But it's good."  
"Do I know her?"  
Eliot pauses, seems to consider things, and then remembers Faith needs straight up and blunt and turns his back to her, stirring his pan again while he answers, "Him. Yeah, you know him. Spencer."  
"Reid? Jesus, it's been years since I've seen Reid. How's he doing?"  
"He's, uh, he's good. He's in the BAU, he's working cases."  
"Little boy genius, all grown up."  
"Something like that. He, uh. He had a thing, with drugs -" Faith frowns, but Eliot pushes on. "Yeah, it was touch and go, for a while. But it always is, with Reid. He's good. He is."  
"Good boys. Might as well see both of you sometime soon, if we're playing 'Let's Go Back To Childhood,'" Faith teases, and Eliot chuckles. "Yeah." He says, offering her a spoonful of what he's mixing, "You should. We'll figure something out."


	2. More pressing matters at hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Nate..." Eliot says quietly, and Nate turns back to look at him as they have some sort of understanding via eye contact - Faith doesn't quite get it, just knows that Eliot relaxes beside her and Nate nods a few times. "Faith," Eliot says quietly, "Why don't we go upstairs?"  
> She doesn't like this - not at all - not the way Eliot is looking between her and Nate, and not the way everyone else in the room is tiptoeing around the subject. She doesn't like this feeling ( again. Surprise. ) - it's the feeling of being a little girl again, and Faith squeezes her hands into fists to try and shake herself out of it, back to the present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of our basic & previous warnings apply here! ( I don't own, blah blah, blah blah )

Nate is standing a good distance away from the others when Eliot and Faith re-enter the fray. His arms are crossed and his movements tense, but for the most part, he keeps his emotions off his face.  
Faith is a little impressed.   
"Do you want us to bring you up to speed, Nate?" Hardison asks, breaking the eerie silence suddenly and trying to meet Nate's eyes with understanding. Nate doesn't look up, just stares at the floor and says, "Is everyone else briefed?"   
Eliot and Faith hang back, and though Faith wants to push into the room, Eliot keeps an arm across her abdomen, effectively grounding her beside him.   
"Nate..." Eliot says quietly, and Nate turns back to look at him as they have some sort of understanding via eye contact - Faith doesn't quite get it, just knows that Eliot relaxes beside her and Nate nods a few times. "Faith," Eliot says quietly, "Why don't we go upstairs?"  
She doesn't like this - not at all - not the way Eliot is looking between her and Nate, and not the way everyone else in the room is tiptoeing around the subject. She doesn't like this feeling ( again. Surprise. ) - it's the feeling of being a little girl again, and Faith squeezes her hands into fists to try and shake herself out of it, back to the present.  
Her fingernails dig into her palms, and she shuts her eyes tightly, inhaling deeply, when she realizes that Eliot is looking at her.  
She still hasn't answered him.  
"No," she says finally, finding herself again, and this seems to shock everyone in else as much as the revelation that Eliot isn't going to fight her on it. "Nate -" Eliot says again, dropping his arm barrier from across Faith, and she senses another conversation between the two of them as Eliot nods. "Brief me later." Nate says, and he's lifting his head and rolling back his shoulders, meeting the eyes of his team ( Faith notices every single one of them is looking at him like he's going to make or break whatever happens next, and she makes the logical jump that Nate runs the show. The thought brings a little smile to her face ). "We have, uh - more _pressing_ matters at hand." He looks to Faith for the first time since she's re-entered the room, and smiles a little bit.  
"Well, Nate, are you going to introduce us to your guest?" Sophie says, and Faith notes her reluctance to say 'daughter' as quickly as she had noted Nate's reluctance to say 'father' - they're all worried about making the connection to Nate as a dad, but Faith suspects they all have different reasons.  
"Well, I have a feeling if I do all the talking,  _my guest_ is going to, eh -" He chances another look at Faith, and she stretches as the attention of the group is trained on her. "Well, I think she might have some choice words, if I did." He finishes, and Faith chuckles.  
"Oh, not many," she argues, shrugging, and Eliot sends an elbow into her ribs - when she turns to glare at him, he's glancing around at the rest of the group - she smirks a little. Eliot just wants her to play nice.  
Faith can play nice.  
"I'm Faith," she says, sliding onto one of the stools at the counter in the center of the room, and she doesn't go so far as to say 'Faith Lehane' because she's not really sure how the whole surname thing plays out in this situation. She studies the people around her, and when no one responds, she gives a loud sigh. " _Nate_ , I would've thought we were well versed in this by now.  _Hi Faith,_ " she leads, just like they used to at the center, a grin on her face, " _I'm_..." she gestures outwards, to the group, waiting for an answer.  
"I'm Parker. I do thief stuff." Parker pipes up, and Faith isn't surprised that she's the first to speak. "That's Hardison - that's his last name, but we call him Hardison all the time, so there's not really any reason to worry, he does the techie things," she points out Hardison, who gives a little wave and a grin, and Faith chuckles. "That's Eliot, I guess you know him and all, but, uh. He punches people." Eliot chuckles and Faith spins her stool to grin at him before spinning back to meet Sophie. "And that's Sophie," Parker points at her, and Sophie waves politely. "She does grifting and stuff." Parker elaborates, leaning both elbows on top of the couch to look at Faith. "And that's Nate." She adds, "But I'm pretty sure you know him too."  
Faith nods, and Parker seems assured, sitting back down with a  _thump_. "So what do _you_ do, Nate?" Faith asks, and for the first time, she notices Nate has a glass of whiskey in his hand. Which is odd, because he  _just_ had one with her at the bar. Or, at least two, because Cora had said 'do you want a refill'. Faith frowns a little and Nate shrugs. "I guess I just, uh... run it."  
The team all give him the same odd sort of look, and Hardison finally says, "I don't know if there's a word for what Nate does."  
Nate looks surprised at this, and Faith files that away for later.   
"No," Sophie says, finally speaking up and looking at Nate fondly, "I don't think there is."


End file.
